In the last six months there has been a wave of countrywide attacks on offices of Equitalia, the agency which handles tax collection, with the most recent on Saturday night when a branch was hit with two petrol bombs.Staff have also expressed fears over their personal safety with increasing numbers calling in sick and with one unidentified employee telling Italian TV: “I have told my son not to say where I work or tell anyone what I do for a living.”

As much as I despise high taxes, I don’t think petrol bombs are the answer. But I am glad that at least some of the bureaucrats feels shame about their jobs.

Not surprisingly, the political elite wants people to be deferential to predatory government.

Annamaria Cancellieri, the interior minister, said she was considering calling in the army in a bid to quell the rising social tensions.“There have been several attacks on the offices of Equitalia in recent weeks. I want to remind people that attacking Equitalia is the equivalent of attacking the State,” she said in an interview with La Repubblica newspaper.

Here’s some advice for Ms. Cancellieri: Maybe people will be less likely to attack “the State” if “the State” stops attacking the people.

But don’t expect that to happen. The Prime Minister also demands obedience to “the State” and there’s rhetoric about “paying taxes is a duty” from other high-level government officials.

Saturday night’s attack took place on the Equitalia office in Livorno and the front of the building was left severely damaged by fire after the bombs exploded. The phrases “Thieves” and “Death to Equitalia” were sprayed onto outside walls. It came just 24 hours after more than 200 people had been involved in running battles with police outside a branch in Naples which left a dozen protesters and officers hurt. …There has also been a striking increase in suicides with people leaving notes directly blaming Equitalia and tax demands. Paola Severino, the Justice minister, said: “The economic situation has produced unease but paying taxes is a duty. On one side there is anger and the problem of paying when the resources are scare but on the other side is the fact that they must be paid.” …Mr Monti has vowed to press on even harder this year to recover the lost money. He is due to have a meeting with Equitalia chief Attilio Befera to discuss the situation and he has already said: “We are not going to take a step back, there will be no giving in to those who have declared was against the revenue and therefore the State. We will not be intimidated.”

If Italy’s political class wants to improve tax compliance, they should listen to the IMF and academic economists, both of whom point out that lower tax rates reduce incentives for evasion and avoidance.

It’s true that Italy, like pretty much every State, should cut spending; actually should have cut spending a long time ago.
Still, I am sure you are aware that without liberalization of the labor market, there is no way Italy will start growing its way out of this mess any time soon.
I suppose that the same is true of Greece.

“As much as I despise high taxes, I don’t think petrol bombs are the answer.”

While I agree with the tactical decision to not use petrol bombs, I have to disagree with the sentiment; which is why I can’t be a Libertarian. War is politics by another means; a means we employed in the Revolution after it was clear that talking wasn’t working.

The modern Conservative Movement of merely stopping the advance of the central government traces back at least to the Goldwater candidacy in 1964, if not back to National Review’s founding or further. Politics, advocacy, persuasion, etc. have been singularly ineffective against the built-in incentives of expanding government (log-rolling, concentrated-vs-diffused interest, etc.). What has not been tried, on the right, is violence.

I do not believe that terrorism, diffused attacks against the public (Bill Ayers comes to mind), is effective to reign in the state (quite the opposite, I’m sure). However, just a few politicallty motivated attacks against specific members of the political class (politicians, bureaucrats, etc.)–as opposed to random attacks like the Oklahoma City bombing or Rep. Giffords–would introduce uncertainty in their minds: Will this designation of wetlands cause an “unbalanced” person to threaten the life of me and my family?

I submit that just implanting that thought in the back of their minds will do more to restrain out-of-control government than anything the Cato Institute has done.

[…] The Italians have a bad tax system, but they don’t meekly comply. Whether they’re firebombing tax offices or sailing yachts to other countries, they are a powerful example of the Laffer Curve insight that […]

[…] the Italians would probably deserve first place. I’m not aware of any other country where tax offices get firebombed. The Italians also believe in passive forms of resistance, with tens of thousands of boat owners […]

[…] the Italians would probably deserve first place. I’m not aware of any other country where tax offices get firebombed. The Italians also believe in passive forms of resistance, with tens of thousands of boat owners […]

[…] The Italians have a bad tax system, but they don’t meekly comply. Whether they’re firebombing tax offices or sailing yachts to other countries, they are a powerful example of the Laffer Curve insight that […]

[…] The Italians have a bad tax system, but they don’t meekly comply. Whether they’re firebombing tax offices or sailing yachts to other countries, they are a powerful example of the Laffer Curve insight that […]